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Bio‐logging data obtained by tagging animals are key to addressing global conservation challenges. However, the many thousands of existing bio‐logging datasets are not easily discoverable, universally comparable, nor readily accessible through existing repositories and across platforms, slowing down ecological research and effective management. A set of universal standards is needed to ensure discoverability, interoperability and effective translation of bio‐logging data into research and management recommendations. We propose a standardisation framework adhering to existing data principles (FAIR: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable; and TRUST: Transparency, Responsibility, User focus, Sustainability and Technology) and involving the use of simple templates to create a data flow from manufacturers and researchers to compliant repositories, where automated procedures should be in place to prepare data availability into four standardised levels: (a) decoded raw data, (b) curated data, (c) interpolated data and (d) gridded data. Our framework allows for integration of simple tabular arrays (e.g. csv files) and creation of sharable and interoperable network Common Data Form (netCDF) files containing all the needed information for accuracy‐of‐use, rightful attribution (ensuring data providers keep ownership through the entire process) and data preservation security. We show the standardisation benefits for all stakeholders involved, and illustrate the application of our framework by focusing on marine animals and by providing examples of the workflow across all data levels, including filled templates and code to process data between levels, as well as templates to prepare netCDF files ready for sharing. Adoption of our framework will facilitate collection of Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) in support of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and inter‐governmental assessments (e.g. the World Ocean Assessment), and will provide a starting point for broader

Background Age-related frailty is a multidimensional dynamic condition associated with adverse patient outcomes and high costs for health systems. Several interventions have been proposed to tackle frailty. This correspondence article describes the journey through the development of evidence- and consensus-based guidelines on interventions aimed at preventing, delaying or reversing frailty in the context of the FOCUS (Frailty Management Optimisation through EIP-AHA Commitments and Utilisation of Stakeholders Input) project (664367-FOCUS-HP-PJ-2014). The rationale, framework, processes and content of the guidelines are described. Main text The guidelines were framed into four questions – one general and three on specific groups of interventions – all including frailty as the primary outcome of interest. Quantitative and qualitative studies and reviews conducted in the context of the FOCUS project represented the evidence base. We followed the GRADE Evidence-to-Decision frameworks based on assessment of whether the problem is a priority, the magnitude of the desirable and undesirable effects, the certainty of the evidence, stakeholders’ values, the balance between desirable and undesirable effects, the resource use, and other factors like acceptability and feasibility. Experts in the FOCUS consortium acted as panellists in the consensus process. Overall, we eventually recommended interventions intended to affect frailty as well as its course and related outcomes. Specifically, we recommended (1) physical activity programmes or nutritional interventions or a combination of both; (2) interventions based on tailored care and/or geriatric evaluation and management; and (3) interventions based on cognitive training (alone or in combination with exercise and nutritional supplementation). The panel did not support interventions based on hormone treatments or problem-solving therapy. However, all our recommendations were weak (provisional) due to the limited available evidenc

Background Age-related frailty is a multidimensional dynamic condition associated with adverse patient outcomes and high costs for health systems. Several interventions have been proposed to tackle frailty. This correspondence article describes the journey through the development of evidence- and consensus-based guidelines on interventions aimed at preventing, delaying or reversing frailty in the context of the FOCUS (Frailty Management Optimisation through EIP-AHA Commitments and Utilisation of Stakeholders Input) project (664367-FOCUS-HP-PJ-2014). The rationale, framework, processes and content of the guidelines are described. Main text The guidelines were framed into four questions – one general and three on specific groups of interventions – all including frailty as the primary outcome of interest. Quantitative and qualitative studies and reviews conducted in the context of the FOCUS project represented the evidence base. We followed the GRADE Evidence-to-Decision frameworks based on assessment of whether the problem is a priority, the magnitude of the desirable and undesirable effects, the certainty of the evidence, stakeholders’ values, the balance between desirable and undesirable effects, the resource use, and other factors like acceptability and feasibility. Experts in the FOCUS consortium acted as panellists in the consensus process. Overall, we eventually recommended interventions intended to affect frailty as well as its course and related outcomes. Specifically, we recommended (1) physical activity programmes or nutritional interventions or a combination of both; (2) interventions based on tailored care and/or geriatric evaluation and management; and (3) interventions based on cognitive training (alone or in combination with exercise and nutritional supplementation). The panel did not support interventions based on hormone treatments or problem-solving therapy. However, all our recommendations were weak (provisional) due to the limited available evidenc

Since 2004, several hundreds of diving marine animals, mainly Antarctic and Arctic seals, were fitted with a new generation of Argos-CTD tags developed by the Sea Mammal Research Unit of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. These tags can be used to investigate simultaneously the at-sea ecology of these animals while collecting valuable oceanographic data. Some of these species are able to travel thousands of kilometres, continuously diving to great depths (590 ± 200 m, with maxima around 2000m). Through the years, these animals have become an essential source of temperature and salinity profiles (MEOP-CTD database available at http://www.meop.net), especially for the polar oceans, complementing efficiently the Argo array. One region where the use of instrumented seals has been particularly successful is the Antarctic continental shelf. Recent contributions to the study of the Antarctic Bottom Water production area near Prydz Bay, the rapidly-thinning ice shelves in Amundsen Bay, or the stratification in the marginal ice zone, are demonstrating the rapidly growing value of these data for Polar Research.

Addressing the potential changes in species distribution in response to global change requires evaluating current species-wide patterns of habitat utilization and how these are determined by the local environment. These efforts, however, can be limited by a lack of data on distribution of the species, which are particularly difficult to collect in the case of air-breathing marine predators in high latitude systems. We present here a retrospective analysis on the distributional patterns of both Weddell (Leptonychotes weddellii) and crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophaga) throughout their circumpolar ranges, using satellite telemetry data obtained over a time span of three decades (1990 to 2010s). Raw Argos tracks (nWeddell = 132; ncrabeater = 115), were filtered using a Switching State Space Model, and the tracking-derived behaviors (transit, foraging) were used to construct localized habitat models based on sea ice and bathymetry derived variables using binary Generalized Additive Mixed Models. We found differences in the effects and significance that environmental covariates had on the distribution at the local scale. The development of local habitat models for the entire range of these species will allow us to understand the ability of each species to cope with the anticipated environmental changes in their habitat.

The increasing need for continuous monitoring of the world oceans has stimulated the development of a range of autonomous sampling platforms. One novel addition to these approaches is a small, relatively inexpensive data-relaying device that can be deployed on marine mammals to provide vertical oceanographic profiles throughout the upper 2000 m of the water column. When an animal dives, the CTD-Satellite Relay Data Logger (CTD-SRDL) records vertical profiles of temperature, conductivity and pressure. Data are compressed once the animal returns to the surface where it is located by, and relays data to, the Argos satellite system. The technical challenges met in the design of the CTD-SRDL are the maximising of energy efficiency and minimising size, whilst simultaneously maintaining the reliability of an instrument that cannot be recovered and is required to survive its lifetime attached to a marine mammal. The CTD-SRDLs record temperature and salinity with an accuracy of better than 0.005 degrees C and 0.02 respectively. However, due to the limited availability of reference data, real-time data from remote places are often associated with slightly higher errors. The potential to collect large numbers of profiles cost-effectively makes data collection using CTD-SRDL technology particularly beneficial in regions where traditional oceanographic measurements are scarce or even absent. Depending on the CTD-SRDL configuration, it is possible to sample and transmit hydrographic profiles on a daily basis, providing valuable and often unique information for a real-time ocean observing system.

Polar regions are particularly sensitive to climate change, with the potential for significant feedbacks between ocean circulation, sea ice, and the ocean carbon cycle. However, the difficulty in obtaining in situ data means that our ability to detect and interpret change is very limited, especially in the Southern Ocean, where the ocean beneath the sea ice remains almost entirely unobserved and the rate of sea-ice formation is poorly known. Here, we show that southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) equipped with oceanographic sensors can measure ocean structure and water mass changes in regions and seasons rarely observed with traditional oceanographic platforms. In particular, seals provided a 30-fold increase in hydrographic profiles from the sea-ice zone, allowing the major fronts to be mapped south of 60 degrees S and sea-ice formation rates to be inferred from changes in upper ocean salinity. Sea-ice production rates peaked in early winter (April-May) during the rapid northward expansion of the pack ice and declined by a factor of 2 to 3 between May and August, in agreement with a three-dimensional coupled ocean-sea-ice model. By measuring the high-latitude ocean during winter, elephant seals fill a "blind spot" in our sampling coverage, enabling the establishment of a truly global ocean-observing system.

Due to the low accessibility of the region, most of the seasonally ice-covered Southern Ocean remains unobserved during winter. Here we show that southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina), equipped with oceanographic sensors, can measure winter hydrography with unprecedented temporal and spatial resolution. Seals provided a 30-fold increase in hydrographic profiles from the sea ice zone, allowing the major fronts to be mapped south of 60°S. Sea-ice formation rates in the East Antarctic sector were estimated from salinity increase in the upper water column and compared to simulations with a circumpolar finite-element sea-ice ocean model. From the observations, peak freezing rates of 2.5-3 cm/d were estimated for the period from late April to early May during the rapid northward expansion of the ice cover. While the pack ice becomes more compact, sea ice formation declines to 1 cm/d in June/July, and virtually stops by the end of August, when the maximum ice extent is reached. Modeled and observed freezing rates agree remarkably well, so that the model can be used to complete the seasonal cycle. By sampling the ocean during winter, elephant seals fill a blind spot in our sampling coverage, bringing us closer to a truly global ocean observing system.

We describe large-scale features of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) in the Atlantic part of the Southern Ocean by merging Argo data and data obtained by novel animal-borne CTD sensors. Twenty one of these CTD-Satellite Relay Data Loggers (CTD-SRDLs) were attached to Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) on South Georgia. The merged data yield unified gridded hydrogaphic fields with high temporal and spatial resolution, enabling the determination of features absent in each of the data sets separately. The structure and variability of the frontal field revealed by this data set were compared with those in daily quarter-degree, optimally interpolated sea surface temperature fields and fields of weekly gridded sea level anomaly. In general, the frontal positions derived using our data set are in agreement with previous work, especially where the pathways are constrained by topography, e. g., at the North Scotia Ridge and the South Scotia Ridge. However, with the improved temporal and spacial resolution provided by the CTD-SRDLs, we were able to observe some novel features. All frontal positions are more variable than previously indicated across the Scotia Sea and west of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge on seasonal time scales. The merged data set shows the temporal variability of the Southern ACC Front (SACCF) north of South Georgia and in its position east of the island, where the SACCF lies further north than has been suggested in previous work. In addition, the Subantarctic Front crosses the Mid-Atlantic Ridge about 400 km further north when compared to previous work.

Twelve southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) were tracked for an average of 119 days as they left their breeding or moulting beaches on the island of South Georgia between 1990 and 1994. Females travelled either eastward up to 3000 km away to the open Southern Ocean or to the continental shelf on or near the Antarctic Peninsula. Males either stayed close to South Georgia or used South Georgia as a base for shorter trips. The females all left South Georgia in a directed manner at an average rate of 79.4 km/day over at least the first 15 days. Thereafter travel was interrupted by bouts of slower travel or stationary phases. The latter were localized at sites on the continental shelf or along its edge. Three seals that were tracked over more than one season repeated their outward direction of travel and used some of the same sites in subsequent years. The magnitude of the movements makes most of the Southern Ocean potentially available to elephant seals.

Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) are among the most proficient of mammalian divers and are a major component of the Antarctic food web. Yet little is known of their movements or interaction with their oceanic environment. Specially designed satellite-link data loggers allowed us to visualize the 3-D movements of elephant seals as they swam rapidly from South Georgia to distant (up to 2650 km) areas of Antarctic continental shelf. One seal dived continuously to the sea bed in one small area for a month, implying consumption of benthic prey. Dives here were shorter even though average swimming velocity was lower. It is suggested that the physiological requirements of feeding and digestion reduced the aerobic dive limit. Long distance travel to relocatable hydrographic or topographical features, such as shelf breaks, may allow large predators to locate prey more consistently than from mid-ocean searches.

In the austral summers of 1986 and 1988–1989, 51 southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) at Husvik, South Georgia (54°10′S; 36°43′W), were stomach lavaged after chemical immobilization. Only cephalopod remains were retrieved, including 1070 lower beaks that were identified and measured. In total these were estimated to represent a wet weight of 187.8 kg. Fourteen species of squid from 11 families and 2 species of octopod from 1 family were present. The most important species overall were the squids Psychroteuthis glacialis in terms of numerical abundance (33.7%) and Moroteuthis knipovitchi in terms of estimated biomass (31.2%). The remaining biomass was mainly comprised of the five large muscular squids, Kondakovia longimana (24.0%), P. glacialis (15.4%), Martialia hyadesi (11.2%), Alluroteuthis antarcticus (10.8%), and Gonatus antarcticus (3.6%). Larger seals of both sexes fed on a wider variety of cephalopod species than smaller seals, with large males taking the greatest diversity. Between the two summers of the study there were some changes in the relative importance of the various cephalopod species consumed; in particular, in 1988–1989 M. knipovitchi and M. hyadesi were less important and P. glacialis was more important. The taxa and size of cephalopods taken by southern elephant seals at South Georgia are almost identical to those taken by the grey-headed albatross (Diomedea chrysostoma), but the relative proportions are quite different. The biogeography of the cephalopods eaten suggests that southern elephant seals sampled at South Georgia do not forage to the north of the Antarctic Polar Front but probably travel southwards towards the Antarctic continent or Peninsula.